A Republican state senator from Minnesota is sticking up for the Somali community after President Donald Trump’s disparaging comments toward them last week.
In a letter to Trump, Sen. Jim Abeler (R-Anoka) said he “was surprised” to hear the president call the Somali community “garbage.”
Trump made the comment during a Cabinet meeting last week in which he also attacked Gov. Tim Walz and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. In addition to his other comments, Trump said of Somalis, “They contribute nothing. … I don’t want them in our country.”
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Abeler responded, “The Somalis I know, and I know many, are nothing of the sort. They are businesspeople, drivers, hourly workers supporting their families, investors, nurses, students, and clerics – just like how my ancestors turned out.”
The fourth-term senator, who has served in the Minnesota Legislature since 1999, added, “Many of the Somalis who have come here from Somalia did so because they didn’t want to starve or be killed in the civil war there. They wanted their children to have the chance to turn 14.”
Abeler urged Trump to visit the community and “meet some of my Somali friends” to see their real character and how much of a part of Minnesota’s fabric they are.
“In the meantime, please do not call them ‘garbage,’” Abeler wrote.
Minnesota has the largest American Somali population in the country. While Census estimates vary, as many as 108,000 Somalis are estimated to call Minnesota home — roughly 1.8% of the state’s population. It’s estimated that fewer than 1% of those have Temporary Protected Status (TPS), meaning the vast majority are legal citizens, and over half were born in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
